Clarification of Community Based Tourism

Extracts from a post by Peter Richards, who provided such valuable training to our Trainers of Trainers along with Potjana Suansri, defining the purpose and possible misconceptions about Community Based Tourism.

• Many tour operators continue to misunderstand that Community Based Tourism is a kind of CSR, (corporate social responsibility) or charity activity

• This misunderstanding leads tour operators to overlook the commercial potential of CBT as a genuinely fun, experiential tourism product which they can offer their guests as a simply better choice than normal sightseeing village visits

• CBT is not a charity activity, or a good, token example of a company's commitment to CSR

• CBT (done well) is a type of tourism product, which has been carefully designed to be a fun, cross-cultural experience, while at the same time creating benefits for community members and the environment

• The only way that our industry will scale up the sales of CBT, and scale up the benefits which CBT can create is by seeing CBT as a good, responsible product choice...

• Good customer feedback and positive benefits for people and planet are reason enough to promote more CBT experiences to more diverse markets

#CommunityBasedTourism #PeterRichards #responsibletourism #SustainableTourism